


a death that is kind

by erysimumchen (jirml)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Near Death Experiences, Temporary Character Death, Yixing's Birthday Week 2020, implied Junmyeon/Yixing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27020965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jirml/pseuds/erysimumchen
Summary: Junmyeon knew of a Death that was kind.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Challenge #8 — Tales of the Past





	a death that is kind

**Author's Note:**

> my take on Siren mythology and Death/Grim Reaper mythology written for TinySparks R8 A Lay Special  
> [Siren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_\(mythology\)#:~:text=In%20Greek%20mythology%2C%20the%20Sirens,small%20islands%20called%20Sirenum%20scopuli.) | [Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_\(personification\)#:~:text=In%20Ancient%20Greek%20religion%20and,sons%20of%20Nyx%20\(night\).&text=When%20he%20appears%20together%20with,generally%20represents%20a%20gentle%20death.)   
>  & also inspired by this tumblr post discussing a death (grim reaper) that is nice, and it reminded me so much of Yixing   
>    
>  [A Death that is kind, and patient, and inevitable.](https://honourablejester.tumblr.com/post/184626839772/mikkeneko-mikkeneko-concept-a-death-god-that/embed)   
>    
>  Yixing himself was such a wonderful muse to this story, and I intended for this to be more Yixing-centric, but alas...   
>    
>  __  
>  **anyway, please enjoy :)**   
> 

Death is a mystery. Religion will tell you of paradise, retribution, rebirth. Non-believers will say otherwise, that there’s nothing after. And a scientist will recite a body’s disintegration. But who is to say what really happens when you die.

Junmyeon would not be the first to wonder, and he certainly won’t be the last.

But death to him has a special place in his heart.

Death, to him, was kind.

He was sixteen and eager to prove his worth. So when an opportunity arose to turn mocking laughter into ones of respect, he grasped at its edges desperately.

Then panic followed as he felt his fingers slip, instantaneous and short-lived. He faintly remembers his faceless peers running away from the scene, remembers Sehun’s lanky stature frozen in fear as he watched Junmyeon fall. He felt guilty then, to have traumatised his young friend that way.

But pain overtook him, blinding his sense of touch and sight. The iron of blood flooding his mouth and nose. His ears rang, from Sehun’s wails, from the soccer coach’s whistle nearby, and from the haunting melody of a piano accompanying his syncope.

And then he blanked.

When he was next aware, he was reclined on a hospital bed, his parents sobbing in relief. The doctors checked on him, his parents following them out with a barrage of questions.

Then Sehun comes up to him.

“I thought you died, hyung.”

Junmyeon doesn’t know why, but he answers, “Me too.”

He was fairly sure he had no awareness then, that he had not even been thinking at all.

So he recalled the moment. Called to his senses, and he asks, “Does our school have a piano club?”

There was no piano club, but there was a music club. The student representative had been excited when Junmyeon and Sehun came up to ask her about it.

“We have weekly sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays! If you want to learn the pian–”

“How about last Wednesday? Was someone playing the piano then?”

The girl had looked puzzled as she told him the music room was locked on days it isn’t used, and then offended when Junmyeon just walked away after that.

“Maybe, hyung, that’s what they meant when your life flashes. Maybe you heard your favourite son–”

“I’ve never heard the song before.”

“Oh.”

Sehun doesn’t offer anything else and Junmyeon doesn’t want him to. It’s nice that someone believes him, but there’s something within him that is yearningly possessive. That wants to solve this on his own.

He wonders now, maybe that was the moment he started yearning for Death.

He was twenty-four and driving to a fancy restaurant he promised to meet his fiancée an hour ago. It wasn’t the first time he’d been late, but this one could break their relationship. But he was a busy man, a workaholic as she would describe him, and who could fault him for trying to live up to the life imagined for him?

So lost in his thoughts, he drove into a trap of all scenic accidents. A typical of fate. He swerves and crashes and this time he is awake as he watches his death unfold.

There’s red all over his dashboard. He hears sirens. Police or ambulance, he doesn’t know, but they’re fast this time.

And as he slowly loses consciousness, as the sirens start to fade, he swears on what is left of his life, he hears a piano.

A man is seated before him. They’re in an empty but cozy room, like an apartment. The light seeping from the window was blinding, he couldn't see much. And the man was seated in front of a piano, right in front of it.

Junmyeon imagines turning his body and looking around, but oddly, he feels omnipresent. Like he exists, but doesn’t exist. Does the man know he’s here?

The man turns to him. A half-dimpled face, a small smile, and almost empty yet knowing eyes.

He gently brushes his fingers across the piano keys, and plays.

A short melody. One Junmyeon has heard once. One he still remembers deep in his core.

He feels a monumental drop. In his stomach? In his heart?

“Remember?” The man laughs lightly.

It should be mocking. Heartbreaking. But Junmyeon wonders if the man realises how cruel it was to ask.

 _Of course._ Junmyeon can’t hear himself. But it seems the man had heard him.

He smiles at Junmyeon, eyes filled with warmth Junmyeon doesn’t understand come from where. Then he turns back to the piano, “Don’t come back so soon, Junmyeon-ah.”

His fiancée was by his bedside this time as she cried her eyes out.

He was thirty-one and tired of life, a divorcee with no custody of his children.

He had all he could ever need, but none of what he really needed. He felt empty, like a failure. And he wondered where he went wrong. Wondered what was the point of continuing.

Now, more than ever, he yearned for peaceful nothingness.

He’s back in the apartment, the man dutily seated by the piano. He plays the melody, and a relieved sob escapes Junmyeon. This time, he is here, he exists, and he feels the tears trek down his face.

The man stands and greets him with a caress, wiping his tears away.

“Junmyeon-ah, don’t rush to me. I’m always here, always waiting, so stay strong for me.”

And Junmyeon cries as he begs to stay, even as he feels Death push him away.

Sehun is there this time, face frowned with anger and relief.

“Hyung, please, don’t leave. We still want you here.”

And Junmyeon cries again at his dear friend’s loyalty, sobs uncontrollably as his children rush into the room.

And for them, he’ll try. He’ll try, and then may Death reward him.

Years pass, and this time, _this time_ , his time has come. Death greets him with open arms. Plays the song continuously. Death is the warmest it’s ever been, and he says, “ _Well done, Junmyeon-ah_.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it :) kudos & comments are very welcome


End file.
